Bridging Curriculum, Mindfulness, and the Complexities of Student Life
The college experience is one of identity making, learning, and experimentation. Teaching and learning practice through a contemplative pedagogical frame promote the deep learning of the whole student. The Library is an ideal place for this work.
Libraries are often a core element of student life. There are spaces to study alone or with others, and places where student can meet up or simply relax. Libraries are a refuge from dorms, roommates, and the noise of daily life. The conversations Librarians have with students often reach beyond the current assignment and include student fears about their performance in a course or being intimidated by a professor. Those moments of quiet consultation may also be a time when a Librarian my notice signs of a student in crisis.
Contemplative pedagogy provides Librarians with ways to not only teach research skills in a way that promotes life-long learning, but to also encourage personal reflection, critical thinking and perhaps the unlearning of highly structured learning of secondary school.
More on Contemplative Pedagogy:
- Contemplative Pedagogy Interest Group (Association of College and Research Libraries)
- Center for Contemplative Mind in Society
- Contemplative Classroom Exercises (Brown University’s Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning)
